Flame
by Yuna Yami Mouto
Summary: Madara is dead, Hashirama's sword through his chest, his heart, a deadly wound from which not even he could escape. His flame has burned to an ember and only ashes are left. But Madara is so much more than a little flame and he reminds the world with a piercing cry as he rises again. Warning: hint of nonexplicit MadaTobi nudity, major character death, typical Konoha crazy, swearing


**Flame**

**Summary: Madara is dead, Hashirama's sword through his chest, his heart, a deadly wound from which not even he could escape. His flame has burned to an ember and only ashes are left. But Madara is so much more than a little flame and he reminds the world with a piercing cry as he rises again.**

Madara stands, stunned, betrayed, as his best friend takes the coward's way out, his sword sticking through his back all the way to his chest, through his heart. A deadly wound no human can survive, not shinobi, not even Hashirama himself for all that he has such strong healing properties.

His Sharingan flickers ...

For all the wrongs that he has done, for all the crimes he has committed, he has never believed himself worthy of absolution. He knows what he is, what he did. He does not deny it. Leaving the village had been his own choice, made out of desperation not to feel hatred at every corner, from almost every set of eyes that look his way, if they were dare. He had needed it, needed to find a place for himself, a new purpose away from all these people who are so willing to forget the dead they leave behind and pretend that they have any more right to absolution than he does, away from people who whisper 'murderer', as though their hands are any cleaner than his.

Leaving the village was what had, ultimately, preserved his sanity.

It had also left him vulnerable in his loneliness and his grief, his loss. A demon of some sort, a voice that whispered things in his head, impossible things he would usually realize could never be, _should_ never be, sounding suddenly sane, sensible. An acceptable path when he knows it is not.

He was too lost already to fight the manipulations and before he could protect himself, his heart was snared, his mind trapped and very few thought were his own.

But Madara knew that this ... this _parasite_ was dangerous, something that must never be allowed to hold him or control his power, his body. And he knew there was only one way to purge himself of it. It would not be the first time a deadly wound or a swift poison has forced him to use it, but it has been _so long_. He had not wanted to do it again. He would have preferred to wait out its normal cycle, if he could. It was not subtle and he had wondered, idly, if his clan would even prepare the hearth for him this time or if they would not care at all. Hikaku wouldn't be able to make it in time all on his own. It was too much work. And Kagami was too young for Madara ever to wish to put such a burden on his once disciple.

He had not had any choice in the matter. The demon had wanted him to fight Hashirama, to get something from the Senju. Madara had no power to resist and so he did not fight it. He instead fought against it during the fight, splitting the thing's attention and his own power to make the fight easier on his former best friend. He _wanted_ to lose.

He had not expected the betrayal of being stabbed through the back. Hashirama _knew_ he hated having someone at his back.

In the last flickers of sharp red focus, his eyes find a familiar sight. White hair, red eyes, blue armor, white fur, red marking on a pale face. Shocked. _Horrified_, like the younger of the Senju brothers was as astonished by Hashirama's move as Madara himself was. Not that it matters. Tobirama never liked him in the first place. The bastard will probably celebrate.

Madara did not care about the way his heart cracked under such a thought.

It did not matter.

It was already too late.

He closed his eyes and let death take him into its cold clutches.

The world will burn soon enough.

00000

Tobirama uses the Hiraishin marker he had once, long ago, hidden on Madara's white waist sash, back when he wanted nothing more than to distance Hashirama from what he thought was a warmongering madman he did not trust to keep up the peace, to appear between his brother and the fallen Uchiha when Hashirama moved as if to touch it. The man startled away, especially when Tobirama bared his teeth in semblance of one of his snow leopard summons, a threat and a warning _not to touch_.

Three years ago, this man had left the village because Tobirama refused to trust him, not realizing that the one just as capable of betrayal was his own brother.

It is not killing Madara that has initiated such fury - that was a thing to be sorrowful of, not angry, as the Uchiha had hardly felt sane to his senses and it was the only way to protect the village and the people in it - but the way it was done. Madara had always trusted Hashirama with his back and Tobirama could not believe his Anija would use that against a man he insisted was his _best friend_. For the longest time, Tobirama would have thought this to be the ideal ending to that story.

Then Madara left the village and he realized how wrong he had been about the man. How wrongly he had treated him, how his attitude may have sparked a similar reaction in the other villagers, how the man's own _clan_ feared and hated him. Madara left and none of the problems he had always accused him being the instigator and center of left with him. The faults of the village reared their ugly heads into plain sight and Tobirama only recognized them when he had to pick up the duties Madara used to hold and fulfill so vigilantly. The dark side Madara had been trying to point out became obvious as the various Clan Heads wrestled to get more influence, withholding valuable information about potential clients and enemies alike, refusing to share funding, demanding more of the village's funding, squabbling like children now that there was no terrifying red gaze there to glare them into submission to get any work done. Tobirama's own gaze was not enough and his brother lacked the proper backbone to deny them their ridiculous requests.

Perhaps even more missed than his efficiency and effect in village related matters was Madara's dry humor, his sarcastic jokes, his rare smiles, the warmth of his chakra, the way Kagami would barge into the Tower's top levels to seek out his Shishou and ask for a training session that Madara always indulged, simply taking his work with him to complete and home in his free time, never slacking. Always doing his best not to leave for anything that someone might fault him for, perfectly aware of his precarious position, and yet he was still only human and even he could not be _perfect_.

Tobirama had not even realized he had come to count on the man's support in various matters until he was arguing with a peculiarly stubborn Nara and looked to the now empty seat at Hashirama's right, right across the table from himself, only to not find the Uchiha there to back him up against the ridiculous demand. He never realized how much work Madara actually did until he had a stack of scrolls that usually needed to be checked by him in hand and opening the man's office, only to find someone else there who had no idea how to fill out the necessary forms nor did they have the authority to do anything about them. He had not realized how well he had gotten to know the man in the two years he spent in the village until one day, he walked straight into the Uchiha Compound with inarizushi and a good brand of sake on the man's birthday, only to find his house empty, devoid of life.

He had not realized how much he would miss him until he would turn around with a witty comment that was surely going to make the man snort, expect to see him and feel a pang of pain when he would not find him there.

He had not realized how much he had come to care about him until he felt Madara approach the village, his chakra thorn as if his sanity was in tatters and realized he would never get a chance to explore the extent of that care as it was now far too late.

Hashirama may have saved the village but he had betrayed Madara perhaps worse than if _he_ had been the one to strike Izuna down. Madara had always known Tobirama was an enemy. There was nothing the younger Senju could do to betray him when there had never been any trust between them.

What little of it a paranoid man like Madara had been willing to spare Hashirama had thrown back in his face and that part of him that _cared_ about Madara was snarling like a beast.

Hashirama had done _enough_.

Tobirama would not let him sully the body further.

He ignored his grieving and flabbergasted brother in favor of crouching down and carefully lifting Madara up into his arms. It was wrong, to see him so unresponsive, so pliant, so _limp_ in another's hold. What was even more _wrong_ was the absence of that enormous, unmistakable, burning chakra signature that always reminded Tobirama of the sun, the stars, hotter than any other fire on this earth. It was gone now. Madara, who might as well be flames incarnated, was much too cold to the touch when he had been felled only moments before. Perhaps it is the rain that is seeping out what little is left of his usual warmth.

Madara felt too light in his arms.

He ignored Hashirama as he carried Madara back towards the village. His mind was flying in thousands of different directions, from how he was going to tell this to Kagami, that his beloved Shishou was _dead_, to what were proper Uchiha burial rites and which arguments he will make to make sure he gets a proper burial as one of Konoha's founders and not just an unmarked grave. Also he might have to fight the other Uchiha to leave Madara's eyes intact. That power was Madara's. It's the least he could do, for both of the Uchiha brothers.

There's a crowd gathered at the gates, all curious to see what has happened, how the epic battle had ended. Madara's strength and battle prowess were infamous, after all. And he had brought a _biju_. Clearly, there was more to the Uchiha than they had known. And for all that they had feared and maybe even hated the man in life and while he was still living in the village, none cheered or sighed in relief upon seeing his body. They respectfully kept their silence and Tobirama felt his throat run dry as it all suddenly became far too real.

Kagami was there, watching with teary _red_ eyes as his Shishou was brought back in body but never in life.

Mito and Toka each had a hand on his shoulder while the other five of Tobirama's students looked worriedly and awkwardly at him. They had feared Madara. They had no sadness nor sympathy to share with his Uchiha student, but Mito and Toka held steady. They had not always agreed or been overly friendly with the man, but they had respected him.

And Hikaku ...

Uchiha Hikaku looked _panicked_. In fact, every adult Uchiha looked downright hectic the second their eyes fell on their dead Clan Head's body. Hikaku suddenly used Shunshin to appear in front of him and _wrenched Madara out of his arms_ before turning on his heel and making a mad dash for the Uchiha Compound, all of his clansmen running before or after him as if chased by hell hounds. That same fury from before rose like a tsunami and Tobirama gave chase. The village fell into chaos and Hashirama yelled his name but Tobirama did not care. They were _not_ taking Madara's body to desecrate it!

He was not renowned as the fastest man alive for nothing. Even without the Hiraishin, he easily caught up with the retreating Uchiha, evading the ones who tried to get in his way - not killing, never again - and ignoring any platitudes they tried to say, single-mindedly focused on wringing Hikaku's _neck_ for turning out to be another _traitor_ to Madara-

A random Uchiha full body slammed into him just as he was about to catch Hikaku, sending them both rolling in the dirt in front of the Naka Temple that the Uchiha had built all for themselves. Tobirama pushed the Uchiha off and jumped back to is feet, entering the temple within seconds-

Only to have Hikaku, now, slam into him, the both of them tumbling backwards as a piercing cry and blazing, impossibly hot fire surged from within.

And in the core of it, a familiar chakra signature.

00000

_All his life, the only thing Madara truly knew was _fire_._

_Not unusual, given his origins._

_And no, _not_ because he was an _Uchiha_. He may bear the name and he may share a corporal form of the same blood with them, but Madara was no more an Uchiha than his mother was._

_Simply because that would imply he was _human_._

_Years ago, Uchiha Tajima married his wife and they could not conceive a child. At first, it was no problem, as it takes time, sometimes. But then, Senju Butsuma got his first son, his heir, and suddenly Tajima not having a son was dangerous for a clan. Even a daughter would have been good, as long as there was a heir to carry on the Uchiha name and the blood of the main house. But months passed, a year and more months and Tajima's wife would not conceive._

_Desperate, they entered the temple of the Uchiha patron gods and begged the goddess of their fire for a blessing, a child, _something_._

_And Amaterasu heard and she bestowed upon them a single egg and told them to _treasure it with their lives_._

_Then, in her dreams, Tajima's wife received instructions to burn the egg, no matter how Tajima or anyone else might try to stop her, in her own fire. Then and only then, Amaterasu will grant her a son. Tajima protested, thinking it a test from the gods, but his wife would not listen and did as the goddess has told her._

_The egg burned day and night and in the morning, in its ashes was a baby boy, of wild hair and huge eyes already red with Amaterasu's blessed Sharingan, two tomoe spinning lazily as the babe looked up at his new parents, feathers spouting from his arms and back. He was playing with what was left of the fire, the flames dancing to his will, never burning._

_The Uchiha knew their Clan Heir was _very_ important._

_The feathers disappeared but the boy's fire never did. Madara was a strong boy from birth to adulthood, easily learning anything anyone was willing to teach him, his fire all consuming in its heat, even to the Uchiha, a clan of fire they might be. The fire only grew stronger but Madara learned to control it. And for all that he was not human beyond the features he shared with Amaterasu's blessed clan, he was still an Uchiha through and through. When they were born, he loved each of his four younger brothers fiercely. He would burn the world down for them and nearly did, when child hunters killed them in their cradles or just outside of their compound's walls._

_Izuna, his last younger brother, was all that kept him sane._

_Madara was insanely powerful, his origins giving him away here and there. He may not be invulnerable, like Tajima would have preferred, but the boy healed fast and got back up even faster if anyone ever actually manages to kill him. He burned brightly and stronger than the sun and Amaterasu smiled down on the boy and helped him grow stronger._

_Madara, all of his life, knew fire. The fire of his birth and the death pyres he must ignite for every fallen clansman, the fire of a hearth and the flames he rains down on his enemies on a battlefield, the fire of love and the burn of hatred. He knew it all._

_He was just glad that the Hearth's fire was not one he got to see often._

_Not since a few years before he met Hashirama._

But here he was now, sitting up from where his rebirth had burned through his human skin and left evidence for all to see his _otherness_, the gold and pyrope colored feathers on his wings and at his elbows, the blue feathers the color of his Susanoo mixing in with the ones behind his ears and at the small of his back. His clothes were, predictably, ruined and he was as naked as the day he hatched from his egg. His hair must be made of Amaterasu's black, all consuming flames, judging from the crackling of fire he hears, which meant she was not pleased. His divine mother was always a bit overprotective, despite knowing he will just rise back from his own ashes. She had made him so.

After all, what good is a phoenix that _dies_?

He rolls his neck, his shoulders, enjoying the way his wings follow the motion. It's been ... _years_ since he'd let them out. Humans do not react all that well to _other_. The supernatural frightens them. Right now, though, Madara gave zero fucks.

His plan had worked. His rebirth had burned whatever that _demon_ was trying to do, to make him in to. Perhaps it is its fault that Amaterasu is so displeased? No matter. He is free and his fire seems to have climbed a notch hotter. He'll have to experiment with that later. The last time his divine relatives had given him a new power, he'd nearly exhausted himself to a new rebirth because Susanoo had formed around him on the battlefield when he had least expected it and not yet known how to control it.

The look on Senju Butsuma's face had been priceless and Madara was forever grateful to the Sharingan for immortalizing that image in his mind.

Though Uncle Susano'o had not been overly pleased to hear his gift being called a _monster_ or a _demon_. He'd bitched at Uncle Tsukuyomi for _days_. Amaterasu had been far too amused, judging from how she retold the bickering to him in his dreams, the only way any of them can visit him without shattering the human world.

"Madara-sama? I'm sorry, but we don't have any clothes at the ready," Hikaku called, uncertain, from where he was pushing off of a sprawled, stunned Senju Tobirama who was staring at Madara and a blush as red as his eyes was spreading across his face. Madara waved his cousin off and folded his wings around himself. They covered him more than sufficiently.

"Not immediately necessary, Hikaku. You could not have been prepared for me needing the Hearth, no matter how the battle went."

"Welcome back, cousin," the younger man eventually greeted, hesitant, as if expecting Madara to scold him for being so familiar, as though they are not first cousins, the last ones left of their families. "Will you stay this time?"

"I might have to. I ran afoul a demon and it was perhaps stronger than I would have liked. Until I recover, I fear I will have to stay."

"And after?" Hikaku might be asking, but every Uchiha knows what it means when Madara runs into any otherworldly beings that are making a ruckus on the human plane. The gleam in his eyes suggests he's even looking forward to it. Madara couldn't hold back a grin. He could always rely on Hikaku.

"Then, we hunt." And it was such a pleasant sensation to his own sensory abilities, not quite on Tobirama's level but still better than most if not all others, to feel the excitement of his clansmen when they heard this. Uchiha are the only clan in direct contact with divinity. They are the only ones who can _see_ the _other_. But ever since Madara was born among them, they had organized _hunts_ on demons and other dastardly creatures that might cause trouble. "I have a bone to pick with it and I do believe my most divine mother would, too."

"Are we to expect any forest fires, Madara-sama?" Hiruka, Kagami's mother, asked respectfully as more of his clansmen approached, comforted by the familiar visage of their Clan Head in his true form. It would seem they had forgotten - the _irony_ of an Uchiha _forgetting_, honestly - that the rumors about him drawing his power from hell were all made up in fear and mocking of the true origin of his powers which were very much _divine_ in nature. It seems that the reminder had done them some good.

Not that it still wasn't likely for Amaterasu to mess with them in the near future for being partially responsible for him needing the Hearth again. Hell hath no fury like a mother pissed off, after all. Especially the goddess of all fire and the such.

"We'll take the Senju to take care of it if it gets out of hand," he waved it off, concentrating on the running ball of energy that was his former disciple as Kagami hurtled towards the temple.

Tobirama stared incomprehensibly up at him from where he was still sprawled out on the floor. "What?"

"We're going out hunting, as soon as I can go back to my human visage and I make sure there are no more new powers thrown at me by my most divine relatives," Madara says as he rolls his eyes. He braces himself just in time to catch Kagami when the now teen - fourteen years old already - pounces on him, careful to rearrange the boy's limbs so that he doesn't accidentally burn himself on his hair or crush his wings. It's been truly far too long since he had been in this form. "The hunts tend to end in forest fires and it would be _much_ easier to have someone put out the fires for us instead of me having to invoke the other gods for a dragon to do it. You're good with suiton, you'll do."

Tobirama just blinked at him, still not getting it. "How are you even _alive_?"

"Madara-shishou's a phoenix!" Kagami, after reassuring himself that Madara was, indeed, alive, finally let go and blushed when he realized his mentor was naked, looking away instead to his teacher as he explained. "He was Amaterasu-sama's gift to the Uchiha when they prayed for a baby for the old Clan Head! And phoenixes never, ever, _ever_ die. They just burn and go poof and then they come back even stronger than before!"

"Are you saying you're not _human_?" The incredulous savant asked, well, incredulously. "Would you mind if I asked you some questions? Because right now, I have so many, starting with who your 'mother' is and are you _completely_ a phoenix, but I think all of that can wait. What I want to say right now, though," Tobirama paused until he was finally standing on his own two feet again, all dignity and grace. Then he gave Madara a small bow and said the perhaps most surprising words Madara would have never expected to hear from him, not said so sincerely. "Welcome back, Madara."

" ... It's good to be back."

"Madara!? You're alive!" A moment later, a moments-ago-exhausted Hashirama hurled himself at his best friend, only to squawk when Madara just beat his wings once ad took into the air with the ease of one of his hawks, evading the lunge easily and spitting a fireball at his friend _without using a single hand seal_.

"Don't think I forgot about _you_, you log-brained moron! How _dare_ you kill me from behind!? Come back here, you coward!" Madara thundered as he started chasing a horrified Hashirama through the village, casually taking the pants one of his clansmen held up as he flew overhead, spitting more fireballs at their respected Hokage. "I am going to burn you to the ground! Stay _still_!"

"Madara, please! Let's talk about it! You were attacking the village!"

"I had a parasite! And that does not excuse you!"

"And a parasite does!?"

"A _demonic_ parasite does! Now come here so I can show you how 'demonic' my Susanoo is! My uncle will be pleased!"

"Madara, please! I'm sorry- Ack! Heeeelp!"

"Should we be worried?" Toka asked as she and Mito finally joined them, both women watching with the rest of the flabbergasted village as a phoenix chased the God of Shinobi around the village, singing his hair with fire from time to time to keep him on his toes, never once accidentally actually _causing_ a fire, so there's that.

"Nah, Madara-sama just needs to vent a little after one of his rebirths," Hikaku, oddly nonchalantly, waves them off. "The gods tend to stuff him with energy every time he 'visits' so he can return faster."

"How often does this happen?" Mito questioned, looking amused by it all.

"Madara-sama has needed to use the Hearth - a construct gifted to us by Amaterasu-sama so Madara-sama's rebirths don't set the entire Hi no Kuni on fire and kill us all in the initial blast of divine power - only five times before. Then he got strong enough not to need them."

"But if they make him stronger, why not use that to his advantage? He could have overpowered Hashirama easily if the gods themselves kept giving him power." Tobirama had to agree with Toka's point. It was very valid. And it made no sense that Madara would not use it to his advantage when it could have ended up saving Izuna's life.

"That is a question only Madara-sama can answer," the Uchiha said before excusing himself. "I have an oni-hunt to prepare."

Tobirama just kept tracking Madara's movements with his eyes and his senses, relishing in the returned warmth of that wild flame. No, not flame, an _inferno_, if a divine one, it would seem. Truly, he had so many questions for Madara but perhaps the first one he will ask him if he would allow Tobirama to treat him dinner? There was a new restaurant which had just opened in the village and it would make a nice first date. Though should he pray to any gods to ask permission beforehand? He would rather like to avoid a smiting.

A tug at his sleeve has him looking down into Kagami's beaming face and mischievous eyes, thankfully not red with the Sharingan right now as they had been when he'd first seen Madara 'dead'. "Yes, Kagami?"

"I suggest giving out a big token to Amaterasu-sama, Tsukuyomi-sama and Susano'o-sama first, Tobirama-sensei." Ah, it would seem he had accidentally spoken out loud. Well, at least he's getting the information he needed. "Then you can move on to the Kotoamatsukami and the Kamui and to Kagutsuchi-sama and Izanagi-sama and Izanami-sama and, of course, the Uchiha patriarch Indra-sama and his father the Rikudo Sennin-"

"What?" Tobirama asked, feeling his brain breaking.

"Oh! That's an interesting story! You see, Rikudo Sennin, after sealing his mother, the evil Rabbit Goddess from another dimension, married Amaterasu-sama and had Indra-sama but he fell in love with another woman and had Asura-sama with her so only Indra-sama had Amaterasu-sama's blessing and-" Kagami rambled and Tobirama looked up at the other Uchiha still standing around, expecting one of them to tell him it was all a child's imagination or a prank, but they were all nodding along or correcting Kagami's narrative. Tobirama felt his whole body twitch. The Uchiha _remember_, that was always known, but he'd never thought it was because they were descendants from _gods_!

Still getting that date with Madara, though.

He's not wasting a second chance.

00000

In the distance, Black Zetsu was hitting his head against a conveniently hard boulder, chiding himself for forgetting that Uchiha _fucking_ Madara was not only the host to Indra's imprint and reincarnation of Amaterasu's first son but also Amaterasu's _second son_.

And mother had wanted him so.

Zetsu's not been a good boy.

**OWARI**

**A/N: So, this turned out to be somewhat of a crack fic. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed phoenix!Madara! This story honestly blindsided me and I wrote it instead of going to bed like a normal person. There's a tiny bit of TobiMada in this because that's my new jam. I really hope you liked it and would love to hear what you think!**

**R&R!**


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